This invention relates to a rodent trap of the type including a container into which the rodent is enticed so that it falls into the container where it can be drowned in a suitable quantity of water.
Various devices of this general type have previously been proposed for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,610,105 (Chandler), 3,423,870 (Kost), 4,241,531 (Nelson) and 2,825,995 (Snider). In all of the above devices the rodent is enticed by suitable bait to walk onto a pivotal trap door arrangement so that the rodent by its own weight activates the pivotal movement of the trap door and is dumped into the container to drown.
Devices of this type have a number of disadvantages and have generally been unsuccessful in the marketplace. Firstly the devices include mechanical moving parts which are prone to failure and which are expensive to manufacture. Secondly mice and other rodents tend to congregate around the feed material so that the platform may be prevented from operation by the weight of other rodents. Furthermore the rodents are fleet footed and careful in protecting their footing so that they are reluctant to move onto a precarious position and are able to extricate themselves from a precarious position as the trap door begins to move to the open position.